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Old November 8th, 2022, 03:46 AM   #1
CZroe
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New ‘23 bikes! Kawasaki’s EICMA live stream in 13mins!

Link to original page on YouTube.

Expect a Kawasaki EV or hybrid announcement first, based on the teaser voice about “green power” early in the stream. Still hoping for that Ninja ZX-4R announcement at some point during EICMA.

Edit: Yep. “Please be ready to go with green power in 10 minutes.”
Edit: Voice: “In five minute a Kawasaki press conference will commence.”

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Old November 8th, 2022, 04:04 AM   #2
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Guess they started with H2 SX SE but then: Ninja EV, Z EV (EVs), and Ninja HEV (Hybrid). Unfortunately still showing “prototypes.” Hopefully they’ve dropped defunct CHADeMO for non-Japanese markets but they were promising that a couple years ago.
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Old November 8th, 2022, 04:14 AM   #3
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They announced ambitions for a hydrogen fuels bike in the early 2030s given supply chain cooperation but given what I know about hydrogen it’s really only appropriate as a fuel cell. Burning hydrogen takes too much room for too little range.
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Old November 8th, 2022, 04:32 AM   #4
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Link to original page on YouTube.

Link to original page on YouTube.
So, yeah, the EV battery is removable, the HEV is a chonker, and the hydrogen concept is even more of a chonker since you can’t use any of that for storage. Another thing to note is the three piece blue/green logo Kawasaki is using instead of the “River Mark” to distinguish their hybrids and EVs. Disappointed that there’s still nothing about price, performance, or range for what should be a product announcement.

It seems the Ninja EV takes a back seat to the Z EV since it doesn’t even show up in the second video and they feature the Z a lot more in the other (Ninja EV only shows up in the final still shot). Makes sense if it’s intended more as an eGrom/125 competition. The Ninja is just going to weigh more while being harder to swap the battery. Still, I much prefer a full fairing.

…and I guess I should mention that the H2 SX SE gets front and rear radar for rider aids, like auto headlight dimming. Hope it’s used for more than that! Namely, adaptive cruise control, emergency auto-braking, etc.


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Old November 9th, 2022, 11:07 AM   #5
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MOTM - Aug '15
https://youtu.be/w4ivZR4UJV8?t=1179 to jump to the start of the actual press conference. It's almost 20 minutes of people just wandering around at the beginning.


Quote:
Originally Posted by CZroe View Post
The Ninja is just going to weigh more while being harder to swap the battery.
My guess is that the "gas tank" will open up and the battery will lift out. If so, it seems like the Z and Ninja wouldn't be too different there.
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Old November 9th, 2022, 12:08 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by InvisiBill View Post
https://youtu.be/w4ivZR4UJV8?t=1179 to jump to the start of the actual press conference. It's almost 20 minutes of people just wandering around at the beginning.
Yeah, the link continues working as an archive after the livestream ended but I expect they will trim the fat eventually (YouTube does have tools for that). Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by InvisiBill View Post
My guess is that the "gas tank" will open up and the battery will lift out. If so, it seems like the Z and Ninja wouldn't be too different there.
Yeah, the braces at the top do appear to double as handles.

The early prototypes were shown with a 2018+ Ninja 250/400 frame which they now seem to have modified so that the Z EV battery can hang out the bottom. The Ninja EV is presumably the fully-faired version of the same bike. It’s possible that it comes out through the top or both ways but it’s heavy and already hanging so far out the bottom it seems counter-intuitive for the Z EV. I wish it could split between the two layers of cells for easier handling as two packs.

It’d be great to have more specifics but I don’t expect the “quick” change to be for convenience purposes… like having a second battery for extending range or reducing/distributing battery wear. It’s probably more for maintenance, recycling, salvage/recovery, or replacement… in which case the fairings will be largely irrelevant since they already have to come off for most major services.

They are still calling these “prototypes” with barely any new info so it’s hard to get excited yet. I expected to hear things like range, prices, performance numbers, and a launch date by now, and it’s hard to get excited without knowing some of those important details. If it’s going to cost $10k I’ll just get an eBike and a traditional motorcycle. Any cagers who would be attracted to it as a value-option EV would be better served with a used Chevy Bolt EV. That’s just the market reality so I really hope they aim to undercut that price.
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Old November 9th, 2022, 10:53 PM   #7
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MOTM - Aug '15
Quote:
Originally Posted by CZroe View Post
Yeah, the link continues working as an archive after the livestream ended but I expect they will trim the fat eventually (YouTube does have tools for that). Thanks!
I didn't have 45 minutes to spend watching it, then I noticed that half of it was before it actually started. Just figured I'd let others know too.

Maybe I'm just not used to these sorts of things, but this seemed really lackluster. Talking for a few minutes... Dramatic music! Hot girls mostly-sync-walk out to bike and pull the cover off! "It now has auto-highbeams." Ok, next item. Repeat.

I guess I'm just used to the flashy Apple product reveals and stuff. This just didn't seem to flow very well, and didn't have much real info as you said.
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Old November 9th, 2022, 10:58 PM   #8
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MOTM - Aug '15
Quote:
Originally Posted by CZroe View Post
Yeah, the braces at the top do appear to double as handles.

The early prototypes were shown with a 2018+ Ninja 250/400 frame which they now seem to have modified so that the Z EV battery can hang out the bottom. The Ninja EV is presumably the fully-faired version of the same bike. It’s possible that it comes out through the top or both ways but it’s heavy and already hanging so far out the bottom it seems counter-intuitive for the Z EV. I wish it could split between the two layers of cells for easier handling as two packs.

It’d be great to have more specifics but I don’t expect the “quick” change to be for convenience purposes… like having a second battery for extending range or reducing/distributing battery wear. It’s probably more for maintenance, recycling, salvage/recovery, or replacement… in which case the fairings will be largely irrelevant since they already have to come off for most major services.

They are still calling these “prototypes” with barely any new info so it’s hard to get excited yet. I expected to hear things like range, prices, performance numbers, and a launch date by now, and it’s hard to get excited without knowing some of those important details. If it’s going to cost $10k I’ll just get an eBike and a traditional motorcycle. Any cagers who would be attracted to it as a value-option EV would be better served with a used Chevy Bolt EV. That’s just the market reality so I really hope they aim to undercut that price.
These appear to be using the non-US Ninja/Z125 as the basis now. It also mentioned the A1 license class (15hp), which matches that. The stated 3kWh battery is 1/5 the size of a Zero's. These really seem to be small (like "mini", as opposed to "Ninjette") bikes meant for in-town commuting, not much above a scooter.

The renders should at least look somewhat like the real thing, but obviously they're not videos of a real bike. They seem to imply the battery pack dropping in and making connection at the bottom, for whatever that CGI is worth. That seems to me like a simpler solution (basically a bucket) than having some sort of opening at the bottom which also has to support the battery. They also mentioned the batteries being 12kg/26lb, and there being up to 2 of them. That seems like a bit of random info if they're not meant to be removed except for servicing (though I suppose people are in general concerned with how much batteries weigh in an EV). If it's not meant for the user to access, it just kinda feels like saying how much the engine case weighs - while I guess it can help provide some info on the bike's weight and balance, it just seems like info the average rider wouldn't really care about. At least in theory, I do like the idea of being able to have a spare battery ready to just drop in (just like with RC cars when you were a kid).

I'd say this is a Grom/Z125 replacement. It could be great in some cases, but for most people it's not going to replace their Ninjette. If they could do this same ICE→EV conversion on a 400 without making it insanely heavy/expensive, I think I'd be interested. I was just thinking that while I don't like the idea of limited range and long recharge times, my pleasure rides around here are rarely more than a single tank of gas. As long as you have a garage or whatever to charge in, one nice thing about EVs is that you're always leaving the house with a "full tank", rather than having to put in 1 gallon now or plan a stop halfway through your ride.

FYI, I've filled up my Volt's 9 gallon tank twice this year. I've used about 1 gallon since my 9/1 fillup. At the beginning of the pandemic, one tank lasted me 14 months and 5,761 miles. I know how usable "short" EV ranges can be in the real world, though it definitely depends on your driving patterns. Back in Precedented Times, I was filling up every month or two with a ~50mi/day commute.
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